Inside Hitler's Third Reich

Get the inside story of Hitler’s Third Reich with these tales of the people and events, organisations and collectables associated with the regime.

PEOPLE & EVENTS
These are some of the notable figures in Hitler's Third Reich and the events that surrounded them. It starts before WWII with the Berlin Olympics and an effective use of propaganda to the wider world. It finishes in the ruins of Berlin as the Red Army closed in.

The 1936 Berlin Olympics
Graham Caldwell explains how the XI Olympiad was used by Hitler to showcase the supremacy of Aryan athletes.

Girls of the Third Reich
Tim Heath, author of Hitler’s Girls, explores the youth parties for girls and young women that underpinned the National Socialist doctrine.

SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper
Tim Heath recounts the story of an interview with the man who served as Himmler’s adjutant and commanded the 1st SS Panzer of the LSSAH.

Operation Anthropoid
Ian Baxter describes the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Main Security office, and the appalling aftermath.

Fallschirmjäger leaders, men of action
Adrian Nisbett highlights three of the German paratroops’ best-known commanders and explores their styles of leadership.

Hitler must die!
Ian Baxter has the story of Operation Foxley, the British plan to assassinate the Führer and end the war.

Hamburg at war
As Germany’s largest port and second largest city, Hamburg was the target of a series of devastating air raids, as Jonathan Trigg explains.

Operation Valkyrie
By 1944 the anti-Nazi groups had all failed to assassinate Hitler. The last hope now required an audacious plan, as Graham Caldwell describes.

Willy Messerschmitt
The story of the man who gave his name to the best German fighters of WWII but eventually fell out of favour.

Tales from the Führerbunker
Tim Heath takes us inside Hitler’s bunker during the last days of the Reich with two exclusive interviews.

ORGANISATIONS & DIVISIONS
Let’s take a look at some of the many organisations within the Third Reich as the NSDAP took over control of almost all aspects of the German state. Then there are the divisions within the Waffen-SS, Hitler’s own army which swore death before dishonour and total loyalty to the Führer.

The National Socialist Motor Corps
Almost the German equivalent of the RAC, discover one of the most fascinating, and least well known, paramilitary organisations of the Nazi regime.

The Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler
Jonathan Trigg takes you inside the genesis, training, deployment and battles of the infamous Waffen-SS division that carried the Führer’s name.

The 4th SS-Polizei Division
Ian Baxter has the story of a division that began as a private police force in 1939 but ended up as part of the Waffen-SS by 1942.

5th SS Wiking Division
Ian Baxter takes a look at the formation and actions of the Waffen-SS division with Dutch and Scandinavian volunteers.

SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich
The story of Das Reich, the Waffen-SS Division that sought to counter the invasion of France, is one of battlefield bravery and appalling war crimes.

6th SS Mountain Division Nord
Originally drawing on guards from the concentration camps, this new SS unit began recruiting volunteers from Hungary, Romania and a few Norwegians, all built around a German cadre. 

The Gestapo
John C Pursley goes behind the scenes of the infamous German Secret Police, a tool of oppression to counter insurrection and sabotage against the ruling NSDAP.

COLLECTABLES
Discover more about Hitler’s Third Reich through the world of collectables, from the toys that used propaganda to push the official dogma, to the vast array of collectable daggers from various organisations, to helmets, dress swords and uniforms.

Toys of war
Toy and game production under Hitler’s regime saw propaganda infiltrating playtime for impressionable young Germans.

Postage stamps of the Third Reich
Gerald Prenderghast looks at collecting the means of sending letters and post around Nazi Germany.

German military wall plaques
John C Pursley investigates artistic awards and decorative military paraphernalia designed to be displayed on the wall

German Military Daggers
John C Pursley has the first in a raft of features on edged weapons of the Third Reich by looking at the daggers of the military.

German paramilitary daggers
In the next feature John C Pursley identifies the edged weapons worn by Third Reich military support organisations.

Third Reich political daggers
It seems there was a dagger for almost everybody during the Third Reich period, and every Nazi organisation, whether military or not, was symbolised by their unique edged weapon.

German civic daggers
John C Pursley describes the daggers used by the numerous domestic civic administrations in Germany.

Third Reich civic organisation helmets
How about collecting helmets from the civic and paramilitary organisations involved in urban battles or combat support operation?

Mother’s Cross of Honour
The award for helping populate the Third Reich came with a range of benefits and prestige for mothers. 

Waffen-SS uniforms
Garrett E. Eriksen takes a look at the uniforms and insignia worn by the Waffen-SS during the Ardennes Offensive.